Nomans Land
is an uninhabited island 612 acres (2.477 km²) in size, located in the town of Chilmark

Chilmark, Massachusetts

Chilmark is a town located on Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 843 at the 2000 census. The fishing village of Menemsha is located on the northern end of town along its border with the neighboring town of Aquinnah...

, Dukes County

Dukes County, Massachusetts

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 14,987 people, 6,421 households, and 3,788 families residing in the county. The population density was 144 people per square mile . There were 14,836 housing units at an average density of 143 per square mile...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is situated about three miles (5 km) off the southwest corner of the island of Martha's Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....

.

The island likely has unexploded ordnance

Unexploded ordnance

Unexploded ordnance are explosive weapons that did not explode when they were employed and still pose a risk of detonation, potentially many decades after they were used or discarded.While "UXO" is widely and informally used, munitions and explosives of...

 dating from its role as a practice bombing range from 1943-1996. Consequently, the island is closed to the public.
In 1602, from the voyage of the Concord (of Dartmouth) arriving at Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...

 on May 15, 1602, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold

Bartholomew Gosnold

Bartholomew Gosnold was an English lawyer, explorer, and privateer, instrumental in founding the Virginia Company of London, and Jamestown, Virginia, United States...

 had named the small island "Martha's Vineyard" after his eldest daughter, Martha;
however, the name was later transferred to the larger island nearby

Martha's Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....

, northeast of Nomans Land.

The island was probably named "Nomans Land" after a Martha's Vineyard Wampanoag sachem

Sachem

A sachem[p] or sagamore is a paramount chief among the Algonquians or other northeast American tribes. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms from different Eastern Algonquian languages...

, Tequenoman, who had jurisdiction over the island when the English came in the early 17th century: named from "TequeNoman's Land" (figurative phrase).

An airfield was constructed by the U.S. Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 on the southern edge of the island between November 1942 and May 1944, and the island was used, beginning in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, as a practice area for bombers for 53 years, 1943-1996.